Fire season in West extends, evacuations ordered

The sun is mostly obliterated by smoke where a wildfire burns past the paved section of Number 1 Canyon Road Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, near Wenatchee, Wash. Crews in central Washington and Wyoming worked Monday to protect homes from two of the many wildfires burning throughout the West as a destructive fire season stretches into September with no relief expected from the weather anytime soon. The National Weather service issued red-flag warnings for wide swaths of eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, Montana and all of Wyoming, meaning conditions could exacerbate blazes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
— AP

The sun is mostly obliterated by smoke where a wildfire burns past the paved section of Number 1 Canyon Road Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, near Wenatchee, Wash. Crews in central Washington and Wyoming worked Monday to protect homes from two of the many wildfires burning throughout the West as a destructive fire season stretches into September with no relief expected from the weather anytime soon. The National Weather service issued red-flag warnings for wide swaths of eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, Montana and all of Wyoming, meaning conditions could exacerbate blazes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
/ AP

WENATCHEE, Wash. 
Crews in central Washington and Wyoming worked Monday to protect homes from two of the many wildfires burning across the West as a destructive fire season stretches into September with no relief expected from the weather anytime soon.

Winds and temperatures remain high in parts of the region, worrying officials who had hoped cooler temperatures and moisture would eventually tamp down the threat. The National Weather service issued red-flag warnings for wide swaths of eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, Montana and all of Wyoming, meaning conditions could exacerbate blazes.

In Wyoming, authorities evacuated 500 people from homes and cabins as a wildfire about 10 miles southeast of Casper quickly grew.

The Sheep Herder Hill Fire started Sunday and burned at least six structures overnight. State Forester Bill Crapser wasn't sure if any of the structures were homes but said even more buildings may have been lost.

The fire had scorched more than 15 square miles of pine forest and sagebrush by Monday afternoon.

Gov. Matt Mead activated two Wyoming Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, each with 600-gallon buckets, to dump water on the fire. A total of 12 Wyoming Army and Air National Guard troops were activated, including a liaison to coordinate possible aid to a Jackson-area fire in northwest Wyoming.

About 1,000 residents had been told to prepare to leave as the Little Horsethief Fire burned more than 4 squares miles in a mountainous area less than two miles south of Jackson. But officials said Monday evening it appeared the town of about 9,500 residents would be able to get through the night without any evacuations.

The blaze was about 15 percent contained.

In Washington state, rains that fell in the Seattle area after a 48-day dry stretch didn't make it over the Cascade Mountains that divide the state's western and eastern halves. And the forecast was for gusts that could fan the flames of dozens of blazes.

Only a shed has been lost near Wenatchee, and no injuries have been reported at what appeared to be the most-threatening of many wildfires sparked by lightning in the state Saturday.

Residents of about 180 homes on the west side of Wenatchee, about 140 miles east of Seattle, were told to evacuate Sunday, Wenatchee police Sgt. John Kruse said. And a shelter was set up at a church because of the small blaze that continued to burn in the hills. It was so windy that newly arriving crews struggled to set up their tents.

Connie Beck of Wenatchee was ready to get herself, her things and her dog out of harm's way if needed, but hoped crews would stop the fire.

"I packed my pictures, my recipe box and a couple of days' worth of clothes, and Mollie," she said, pointing to her Dachshund.

Ed Farrar has a home overlooking the Wenatchee Valley. He said the hillside last burned nearly 20 years ago, but he was paralyzed from the waist down in bicycle accident four years ago and has to be more wary.